


fists, unfurled

by ewagan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-08-28 02:53:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8428630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ewagan/pseuds/ewagan
Summary: There is strength too, in learning to love, in his hands as he reaches for Lance.
  
He learns that his hands were made for other things too.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ushijima ebooks (bokutowl)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bokutowl/gifts).



> Hi friend! I know this isn't what you asked for, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. <3

There are things that Keith knows as facts. In third grade, he learned that strength sometimes can only be understood in the impact of a fist and the crunch of bone. Bruised knuckles become too familiar, as well as the murmur of the principal telling his foster mother that he is suspended again, that he is a problem child and it is an issue that needs to be rectified. It follows that he is shuffled away to a new home, a new school where things are supposed to change for the better. Except there are things written in blood, written in bone and he finds himself on the wrong side of the school bullies again, fists up as he darts in and punches someone.

It is something that stays with him, anger welling up beneath the surface as he grows older.

Lance starts as an annoyance, too loud, too friendly, too everything. Keith cannot understand him, nor does he understand why Lance singles him out for a terribly one-sided rivalry. It is something that Keith ignores, preferring to focus on his shoes and the empty notebook paper in front of him while his professors drone on, escaping lectures as soon as time is up. He is not here to make friends, he reminds himself. There is no need for friends.

Lance is difficult to ignore, however. he is persistent, and loudly so. he flirts with Keith and with the girls sitting next to him, the guys in the fraternity, with the TA, with the professor. Watching Lance makes Keith want to punch something; his face preferably. Something about the way Lance smirked rubbed him wrong and honestly, Keith in college isn't that much different from Keith in third grade.

So one day, he punches Lance. Lance, damn him and his luck, just barely avoids having his nose broken but the two of them wind up rolling around in the grass outside the Engineering faculty, yelling and punching until Lance's best friend gets between them, pulling the two of them apart. It doesn't stop Keith from trying to land one more punch, though he is unsuccessful at the attempt.

Keith sports bruises for a week. Lance uses his to gain sympathy from girls and some of them actually give him their number. One of them actually laughingly kisses one of his bruises, and Lance flushes and stutters his way into getting coffee with her later. Keith is not disappointed or angry when he sees it happening. He _isn't_.

When Lance plops himself in the seat next to Keith one lecture, Keith freezes up. He doesn't really want to talk to Lance, so he pointedly ignores Lance next to him until the other boy pushes a cup of coffee at him.

"Look, I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't have annoyed you so much." Lance mumbles, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. The coffee is a peace offering, and Keith accepts it cautiously. He's also tired from pulling an all nighter, so the coffee is very much welcome.

"I'm sorry too." Keith mutters, studying the lid of his coffee. "I shouldn't have punched you." He chances up a glance at Lance, who has a rueful smile on his face.

"Friends?" Lance asks.

Against his better judgment, Keith nods.

Lance's answering smile is brilliant.

 

He finds himself in Lance's company more often, though the urge to punch Lance never quite goes away, especially when Lance tries to hit on someone. He becomes friends with Hunk, who honestly, is brilliant and kind and a far better friend than Keith deserves. He helps Hunk with his creations, offering occasional input when Hunk is building something, marvels at the mechanical creations that Hunk forms out of old clocks and unwanted electronics. Hunk reminds him to eat, sometimes going as far as to cook for him. It is from Hunk that he also learns that there is strength in gentleness, that maybe his hands aren't only meant to hurt but also meant to build.

But there is also Lance, who is sometimes kind and perceptive, who is generous with all the things his mother sends him, who buys Keith coffee and sends him stupid texts about eggs at 3AM. He asks too many questions and he is still too loud, but Keith learns to live with it, learns to smile when Lance trips over that step in the lecture hall for the umpteenth time, learns to laugh at Lance's terrible jokes. They argue over stupid things and dare each other to climb the tallest tree in campus naked, all while Hunk tries to dissuade them from carrying out too many of the dares.

Hunk introduces him to Pidge, who is small and smart but also a firecracker, bright when she wants to be and blinding when she tries. She is witty and sarcastic, and she shares Keith's sense of humour and taste in movies. They stay up too late watching science fiction movies while rushing to finish a paper; Pidge insults the characters for being too dumb to notice all the things going wrong and all the signs that things are not right while Keith continuously remarks on how unrealistic the set-up is.

Slowly, Keith's days change. There's late night runs to the local diner, brunch on Sundays, Lance swearing in Spanish while Hunk sighs, cramming sessions for quizzes and weekends spent baking with Hunk while Lance plays guitar and sings old Spanish songs in the background. Lance making nonsense comments when Hunk and Pidge are too deep in a technical discussion, affecting the airs of a pompous man while he comments on Hunk and Pidge's discussion. Keith tries to hide his smile, but Lance's crooked grin makes him laugh.

He forges a tiny family of his own, a place to belong and people who will miss him. They are a strange group, but Keith is comfortable with them in a way he has never learned to be in all the homes he has been to.

But it is Lance he gravitates back to, always. His first point of contact, who laughs at him and teases him and sometimes flirts with him, but he is there with Keith on late nights when Keith lies down on the lawn to watch the stars, tracing out constellations and telling Keith stories about Orion, about Castor and Pollux, about lovers who could not bear to be separated.

Perhaps it's not so strange that one night, the words _I think I love you_ slip out. Lance freezes and looks at him with wide eyes, and Keith wants to take the words back. So he opens his mouth and then Lance is throwing himself at Keith and kissing him.

It's a horrible kiss, in all honesty. There are teeth clacking against each other, too much saliva and Lance accidentally elbowing him in the chest but it's a kiss. Keith can't breathe, but he has a smile on his face while Lance is laughing softly, forehead pressed against Keith's shoulder.

"I think I love you too," he whispers into Keith's ear. Keith laughs as he loops his arms around Lance's waist, Lance's hand on his face pulling him in for another kiss.

 

He maps out their relationship in coffee shop dates and walking home together after classes and thinks _oh_ , maybe he's been in love with Lance longer than he thinks. After the initial antagonism and the bickering that turned into honest friendship, Keith thinks that he never would have predicted this: the two of them sitting in a coffee shop while Lance laughs, warm and golden in contrast to the grey streets outside. His lips curve in a smile, soft and fond while Lance continues gesturing in telling some exaggerated story about his family. There is a simple happiness in the small things, and Keith is only beginning to learn of them.

There is strength too, in learning to love, in his hands as he reaches for Lance. He catches one of Lance's hands in his own, smoothing his thumb over the long fingers and the knuckles. Lance stops his story to look at Keith, a fond smile on his face as he squeezes Keith's hand in his own, lacing their fingers together.

He doesn't need more than this, he thinks. It is enough for now, to know that he is loved, that he belongs somewhere.


End file.
